Sarah Gibbs

Sarah was born in 1827 in Vermont. Sarah’s father, Aaron Gibbs, died when she was just two years old. Her mother was baptized in September 1831 and her young family moved to Kirtland, Ohio in 1833. Sarah was nine at the time of the dedication of the Kirtland Temple and she remembered it well. She also went to the Prophet Joseph Smith’s home later to see the mummies and the rolls of papyrus he had. Sarah often told of the journey of 800 miles that her family took from Kirtland to Far West, Missouri and then of the bitter persecutions endured there before moving of Nauvoo, Illinois. Sarah lived in Nauvoo until she was eighteen years of age. Her brother helped build the Nauvoo Temple and was a body guard to the Prophet. Here her brave mother passed away on November 2, 1841 at the age of forty-five. In 1846 Sarah moved to Winter Quarters and during the winter of 1847-1848 she taught school. In the summer of 1848, accompanied by her sister, Prudence, Sarah started across the great plains, arriving in the Salt Lake Valley on September 4, 1848, having walked most of the way. Sarah became one of the first school teachers in Utah. Her school house of one-room was built of logs with a dirt roof and floor. At one time, a long snake came down through the roof and the pupils clung to their teacher in panic. On April 21, 1851 Sarah became the second wife of Horace Sunderlin Eldredge and a home was established for her on 1st South. In 1865 or 1866 the move from Salt Lake City to Bountiful was made. Before her home was built, Sarah and “Aunt Hannah,” her husband’s third wife, lived in the same house which was arranged for two families. In the largest room in the house Sarah again taught school. Later she “moved up the street” into her own brick home which became a “hospital home” where those in need of rest or comfort could come. She gave loving care to children in times of sickness. Sarah Waterous passed away on January 17, 1903 in West Bountiful, Davis County, Utah. Her husband died on September 6, 1888 in Salt Lake City, leaving her a widow for about fourteen years. She was truly a pioneer who loved the Lord and her Church, always living a Christ-like life, an example of faith and fortitude and of service to others.

Footnotes

1 Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude, Volume 1, page 884, International Society Daughters of the Utah Pioneers